Talkspace Sponsor (5:44)

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is telling everyone let's face it in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at Talkspace, you can face whatever is holding you back. Whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits or another challenge that you need support to work through, it's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider, typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, Talkspace is in network with most major insurers and most insured members have a zero dollar copay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by Insurance, get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com and enter promo code SPACE80. That's S P A CE80 to match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com and Enter promo code SPACE80.

Amy Bruni (6:46)

Are you prepared to venture to the darkest, most haunted locations in the world?

Unknown Speaker (6:52)

There's no question you always feel like there's something around you. You hear noises that you shouldn't hear. You think you see somebody duck around, but you go run to see who it is. There's nobody there.

Amy Bruni (7:04)

As your host, Amy Bruni, I'm ready to take you on a spine tingling journey through the unknown, where the line between the living and the dead blurs. He said he saw black fingers curl.

Talkspace Sponsor (7:16)

Up over the edge of the end.

Amy Bruni (7:17)

Of the footboard and then a head pop up. Brace yourself for a supernatural journey unlike any other. Whether you count yourself as a believer or skeptic, Haunted Road is the journey for you.

Unknown Speaker (7:29)

And there was a man sitting in the corner at a table. She saw him and then it was gone.

Amy Bruni (7:35)

Listen to new episodes of Haunted road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Aaron Manke (7:51)

In his groundbreaking pop science book Pale Blue dot com, the famed astronomer, TV personality and science communicator Carl Sagan reflected on the moon's constant presence in our skies. It was there when our ancestors first descended from the trees into the savannas, he said, when we learned to walk upright, when we first devised stone tools, when we domesticated fire, when we invented agriculture and built cities and set out to subdue The Earth. For the past 4.5 billion years, the Moon has been our nightly companion, watching over us from the heavens. But that doesn't guarantee that it will always be there or never change. In fact, not too long ago, the US military came with a hair trigger of blowing it up. It was the late 1950s, the height of the Cold War, and America was embroiled in a space race with the Soviet Union. Both countries top scientists were hell bent on one upping the other. And the United States was losing. In 1958, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit. Americans were desperate for a rebuttal, something big, bold and visible. More satellites would feel like old news. And the technology to put a man on the moon was still years away. That's when the Air Force settled on a plan with significantly more oomph. We would nuke the Moon. As they saw, detonating a nuclear warhead on the Moon would achieve two things. First, it would demonstrate American military might and control over space. And second, it would create a massive explosion visible from Earth, proving US dominance to the world and more importantly, to the Soviets. This proposal, internally known as Project A119, called for a nuclear warhead roughly the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima to be launched at the Moon's surface. The Air Force was particularly interested in detonating on the dark side of the moon, where the flash would be the brightest. Ideally, the mushroom cloud could be backlit by the sun, creating a spectacular show. It sounds like something out of a cheesy sci fi movie, but the military was dead serious. They even hired some of the country's top astronomers and physicists to work out the details. Many of those scientists balked at what they'd been asked to do, fearing that nuclear radiation would permanently contaminate the lunar environment, which had been untouched for billions of years. It would never be possible to study samples of the Moon before it was bombed, and landing on the surface would be riskier in the decades to come. There were also fears that radioactive debris would fall back on the Earth, or that the explosion might affect the Moon's orbit. But the science suggested that both of these were unlikely. So the military wasn't concerned. No, they were far more focused on the PR angle. Specifically, they worried that the explosion would damage the man in the Moon, the faint impressions that people have long interpreted as a human face. Ultimately, though, the project was scrapped for an even more shallow reason. The scientists working on the project convinced military brass that the visual demonstration wouldn't be nearly as impressive as they'd hoped for. The moon doesn't have an atmosphere, so there would be no dramatic fireball or shockwave, just a silent burst of light followed by a lot of dust. A far cry from the breathtaking show of might that the U.S. air Force was hoping for. So the project was canceled and the US focused on a less violent lunar goal. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, America won the space race without blowing up any celestial bodies. And no one was more relieved than the scientists who worked on Project A119. One of those men was a recent college grad named Carl Sagan. The young astronomer would eventually become one of the most recognizable scientists of the 20th century, hosting the show Cosmos, writing influential books and helping popularize space science. And we can speculate that he may have gained his deep appreciation for our lunar partner while working on that top secret project A119. After all, he was one of the few people on Earth who knew just how close we came to blowing up the Moon. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities Podcast. The show was created by me, Aaron Manke, in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series and television show and you can learn all about it over@theworldoflore.com and until next time, stay curious.

Talkspace Sponsor (12:28)

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is telling everyone let's face it in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at Talkspace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits or another challenge that you need support to work through. It's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider, typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, Talkspace is in network with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com and enter promo code SPACE80. That's S P A CE80 to match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com and Enter promo code SPACE80.

Aaron Manke (13:28)

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.